San Diego Padres: Top three batters of 2012 - MLB Feature
The 2012 Major League season for the San Diego Padres’ was not a particularly good one. They finished fourth out of five in the National League West. They were a good 12 games ahead of the bottom of the table dwellers Colorado Rockies but 18 games behind
the leaders San Francisco Giants, the eventual World Series winners this year. The Padres had a 76-86 win-loss ratio at the end of the season which was certainly below par.
They had some positives along the way. There were some seriously good individual contributions. Here’s a look at some of the top performers with the bat for the San Diego Padres.
Chase Headley:
The third baseman was the front runner with the bat for the Padres all the way. The 28-year-old is ahead on just about every count for his team. One of the only two Padres’ hitters in the top 40 in the National League, Headley had a batting average of .286
during the regular season games. He had an impressive 173 hits with an amazing 31 doubles and two triples. The 115 RBI’s and 31 home-runs during the 2012 season tell enough of the ability Chase posses.
The hitter won the Player of the Month honour in National League twice during August and September. He is the second Padres’ player to achieve the honour in consecutive months after Ken Caminiti did so in 1996.
Chase also won the Gold Glove Award for third baseman this year, a testament of his fielding prowess. Headley was also unanimously named Padres’ Player of the Year by the writers covering the team. The youngster certainly has got a good platform to build
on in the upcoming seasons and should prove to be a valuable asset for his team.
Yonder Alonso:
The first baseman was acquired in a trade by the Padres late last year from the Cincinnati Reds. Yonder proved to be an excellent pick as during the regular season, his batting average was .273 in 549 at-bats. He played 154 games in the 2012 MLB season during
which he had 62 RBI’s and nine home-runs.
Alonso’s on-base percentage was .348, just a single point below his career average. A total of 150 hits with 39 doubles did not cause Yonder any harm either. He was the second Padres’ hitter in the Nation League’s top 40 batters. The Cuban can certainly
prove to be an important asset for the Padres in the upcoming season. At just 25, the left-handed hitter has a long way to go and one can expect him to fare even better in the future.
Cameron Maybin:
The third spot in the list had a few candidates but looking at the overall numbers, it had to be Cameron Maybin. The 25-year-old featured in 147 games in 2012 with a batting average of .243 in 507 at-bats. He had 125 hits with 20 doubles and five triples.
Maybin had 26 steals to go with 45 RBI’s and eight home-runs. He has been signed for a five year deal that is worth $25 million by the Padres. One can expect the right-hander to improve his game further and be an integral part of the Padres batting unit in
the next few years.
The San Diego Padres will love to see the rest of their batting unit performing on the lines of Headley, Alonso and Maybin. Such performances by other batters could surely help the Padres to be serious contenders for a post-season spot in near future.
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